Eight arrested in Santa Cruz County prostitution sting

Editor's note: On Nov. 10, 2014, a Santa Cruz County Superior judge dismissed Robert Hammond's charge of loitering with the intent of prostitution.Santa Cruz >> Santa Cruz County authorities arrested three men and five women in a prostitution sting in the Lower Ocean area of Santa Cruz on Friday night. They also seized a meth pipe, meth and heroin, and found a 17-year-old suspected prostitute from Stockton.The Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force and County Narcotics Task Force sent undercover officers to several streets, said Mario Sulay, the commander of both task forces.Authorities posed as prostitutes and caught three suspected johns in separate actions. Sulay said the suspects do not appear to know each other. Authorities also posed as johns and talked to suspected prostitutes."The fact that all of the females arrested during this operation were from out of town continues the trend of the last couple of years," Sulay said.He said gangs have tried to rotate their prostitution operations around the state to try to avoid local law enforcement."Unfortunately, these underground organizations profit from victimizing teens and young adults while ensnaring them in a high-risk lifestyle that exposes them to further victimization or engagement in other criminal activities," Sulay said.Friday, authorities arrested Anthony Fitzgerald Horne of Santa Cruz, 41, who was accused of soliciting an undercover officer for prostitution near San Lorenzo Boulevard and Bixby Street, according to arrest records.Horne also was in possession of 0.6 grams of heroin and 0.3 grams of meth, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and loitering to solicit prostitution and was held in Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail, according to jail records.Authorities also arrested Robert Ross Hammond, a 54-year-old from Santa Cruz, on the 300 block of Ocean Street on suspicion of loitering to solicit prostitution. Mario Linares-Aparicio, a 23-year-old from Santa Cruz, also was arrested for the same charge, authorities said.When authorities posed as johns, they caught Christye Yvonne Nance, a 23-year-old from Vallejo, near the 300 block of Dakota Avenue in Santa Cruz. She was arrested on suspicion of loitering for prostitution, Sulay said.Authorities encountered a 17-year-old girl from Stockton who initially lied about her age. That teen, who has not been identified because she is a minor, had a meth pipe and was arrested on suspicion of loitering for prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia and providing false information to a peace officer.She is being held in Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall.Lindsey Shandrika, a 22-year-old from Stockton, was arrested on suspicion of loitering for prostitution near Second Street and Leibrandt Avenue. Antoinette Garcia-Torres, a 21-year-old from San Leandro, was arrested on the same charge, as well as Maryann Jeanette Davis, a 22-year-old from Sacramento.Davis was arrested near Riverside Avenue and Broadway, authorities said.